Informal summits with China, Russia unprecedented: Sushma

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's informal summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month as "unprecedented".

"The informal summit with President Xi is a new dialogue mechanism," Sushma Swaraj said while answering a question at her annual press conference here.

"It is unprecedented that we were invited by China and Russia for informal summits," she said.

She also said that Modi's meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a brief stopover in Germany while returning from Britain last month was also informal in nature.

Modi went to Wuhan in China last month for the two-day informal summit with Xi.

Then again this month he went to the Russian resort city of Sochi for a similar summit with Putin who had sent out an invitation after being elected President for the fourth time.

Sushma Swaraj said that she and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had decided that they would not confine their leaders to listed agenda.

"There were three reasons for this - strong bilateral ties, global issues and mutual trust," she said.

"President Xi told our Prime Minister to call him directly over phone for any issue."

Sushma Swaraj also added that status quo is being maintained at Doklam on the India-Bhutan-China international tri-junction where the Indian and Chinese armies were in a stand-off position for over a month last year.

--IANS

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